Matt it will be.interesting to see how the kits compare. I have done a bit more work added some weld seams and road wheel arms. I have been consulting my limited sources on the IS2 and most of the combat pictures show them without fuel drums, especially the Berlin pictures. I was thinking about doing a Berlin tank. The question is to drum or not to drum. I am also tempted to use Polish markings, would it be a breach of rules to do a Russian allie?

@ Stephen, thanks for the comments. Yes, the Zvezda kit is fun precisely because they lend themselves to upgrading, detailing, etc. Looking forward to seeing your KV2. I’ve never built an Eastern Express kit, but it seems by all accounts you'll have plenty of opportunity for upgrading and detailing too…

@ Tom. Hmmm. I was thinking mine would be a Berlin JS2 but now you say they were without fuel drums. So I looked on the internet and found the actual tank that the Zvezda kit has decals for - tank number 414. See the picture below - it’s the one in the background… To be honest its hard to tell if it has had them removed or not...

I suppose I could model my "414" prior to reaching Berlin, with its fenders still intact and its fuel drums in place…

The pictures I have seen are by no means conclusive and covers every JS2. You have done a great job on your fuel tanks and I just started mine. I also saw some JS2s with all the fenders trashed. They may have dropped them to avoid getting the all shot up. Do what's best for you. If you don't have conclusive proof its up to you. It's looking good so far.

I think about signing in here with an Azerbaijan T-72 AV. "Normal" T-72 have 41.500 kg combat weight but I guess all the ERA blocks fixed at these AV tanks will raise the combat weight over those magic 42.000 kilo of this campaign? Until now I wasn´t able to find out the real weight of this specific type.

Second point is I have no clue if the Soviet Union / Russia fielded this specific type or not.

So please tell me if this would be a valid participation at this campaign

I did shaved off the frontal applique armor plate as it won´t be needed for this variant.

Drive sprockets, idler and roadwheels are finished now. According to Tamiya´s construction manual there is now the frontal lower hull plate to glue but I ommitted that because I will use the folded out scraper blade from Chesapeake. But because of some very delicate parts I will do this at a very late stage during my build.

On account that there is not so much parts in this kit, I managed to complete much of the assembly on the same day that I started my build:

I will be changing the climbing brackets on the turret which are molded solid on the kit. Will be using 0.5mm solid wires to scratch-build the climbing brackets... And stranded copper electrical wires for the towing cables, to replace the kit-supplied towing cables, which are molded in the vinyl-like material.

this is my weekly update: I´ve installed TRUMPETERS single link tracks on the tank. I did read a review report here that these tracks have connector pins for easy assembly... well my set dont have them and I needed to glue everything in place. Will be a bit more difficult to paint it all later. But it looks a lot more better than TAMIYA´s old vinyltracks.

Next weekly update from my side: Sorry but this week there was not much spare time for modelling. I just finished building the tanks hull, closing the holes at the frontal upper armor plate with putty and started to install the ERA-blocks. The frontal blocks are finished now and I have to turn my attention for the side ones.

As I plan to do an Azerbaidjanian vehicle I have to work according to the few fotos I have and the attachment of these ERA-blocks are a bit different to MODELPOINT´s construction plan. I also can see from the photos that these blocks (at least the upper hull ones) have been attached with some distance pieces, not flat onto the tanks armor. Therefore I used my trusted Punch and Die set and made quite a lot spacers to let it look realistic. I´m satisfied with the results until now. What do you think?